Originally Posted by
Redbullet
Good idea.
But... I wanted to "count" the failures during normal use, and the km or time period until the failure occurred. That might give a more practical perspective over the lifespan of a carbon bike for common users - as opposite to many articles that mix normal usage, poor construction, crashes, misuses and abuses - etc, to come up with a general and useless conclusion that, yes, carbon bikes fails, so you should replace your bike with a new one from time to time, for safety reasons...
I'm not sure you will get any meaningful data on this beyond anecdotal stories. There's usually the odd warranty issue kicking around the forums were some carbon frame has cracked, with no firm conclusion as to whether or not it was crashed or abused. All you really need to know is that there are hundreds of thousands of carbon bikes being happily ridden around.
Another way to look at it is how long do you really need it to last? For me 10 years would be more than enough. Without crashing or misuse I know this is very easily attainable with a carbon frame.